The MPSF Tournament presents the Bruins with a chance to capture the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament over the next two weeks.

The Bruins beat Stanford in each of their matchups this season, both in four-set matches. UCLA most recently faced Stanford before their win over BYU, taking the win at home. Sophomore middle blocker Daenan Gyimah said he anticipates a contested rematch.

“I think they are going to give us a run for our money; they’re going to give us everything they have,” Gyimah said. “I’m not overlooking this game, I’m so dialed in. From the time we beat BYU I was so dialed in for the first point of that game.”

The last time Stanford beat UCLA was during the 2017 season, in a five-set match at the Maples Pavilion. Over the past decade, the Bruins have won 12 of the teams’ 22 meetings.

Stanford boasts a postseason history that includes two NCAA Tournament wins – most recently in 2010 – and 16 MPSF Tournament wins.

The Bruins haven’t taken home the national championship trophy since beating Penn State in 2006, but still lead all NCAA men’s volleyball programs with 19 titles.

The Cardinal have improved since setter Paul Bischoff and outside hitter Jordan Ewert returned from injury. In their the final four regular season games with those two back from injury, the duo contributed 64 of the team’s 259 points. Junior outside hitter Dylan Missry said the Bruins do not anticipate as dominant of a performance this week as they had the last time around.

“They have those guys back. Another week of training to work some things out will be beneficial to them,” Missry said. “The team’s going to be a lot better than what we saw last week.”

In Ewert’s absence, opposite Jaylen Jasper carried the Cardinal’s offensive workload. Jasper finished the regular season hitting for .243 and logging 359 kills, and was voted AVCA National Player of the Week after the last week of the season. Coach John Speraw said Stanford’s record does not reflect its skill level.

“They’re a smart team. They’re going to go back and watch some video and figure out what they need to do tactically to challenge us,” Speraw said. “They’ve only had their group together for a short period of time because of injuries. If they had been healthy all season they wouldn’t be in seventh place.”

If UCLA wins against Stanford at home, it will travel to Provo, Utah, to play in the semi-finals at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse.The Bruins would either play No. 3 seed Pepperdine (15-7, 8-4) or No. 4 seed Concordia (15-14, 5-7) in the semifinal round.

McCarthy is an assistant Sports editor for the men's tennis, women's soccer, track and field and men's volleyball beats. He was previously a reporter on the men's volleyball and men's water polo beats. McCarthy is a second-year English and history student from Atlanta, Georgia. He is an avid Tottenham Hotspur and Conor McGregor fan.

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The Undergraduate Students Association Council urged a Student Media newsmagazine member earlier this month to turn off its livestream during part of the the public comment period of its meeting. USAC's livestream policies do not allow for audio or video for a segment of its public comment periods, so as to protect the identity of students, but there are currently no regulations in place for Student Media livestreaming of council meetings. What do you think about this?
The student government should be able to restrict the public from recording its meetings, as it has the right to protect the identities of students who may face safety issues for what they say.
USAC meetings are a public forum and student journalists should be able to livestream to make this information accessible to the public.
The debate over livestreaming in USAC meetings is irrelevant, as few students watch livestreams of undergraduate student government meetings.
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GINA RODRIGUEZ ON UCLA CAMPUS DECEMBER 13TH
Gina Rodriguez and Ford Motor Company present a discussion on breaking the glass ceiling at the Northwest Auditorium at UCLA on December 13th.
Actress, director, activist
Gina Rodriguez along with Sheryl Connelly, Futurist at Ford Motor Company, Gillian Zucker,
President of Business Operations at the LA Clippers and other top
female executives will discuss their own challenges and
victories in breaking through to the top of their professions. The panel will share their collective insights and helpful tools on
successfully navigating obstacles and opportunities facing women and underrepresented groups. The discussion will be followed by a short Q&A with the audience.
Doors: 3pm
Reception / Refreshments
Event Time: 4pm- 5:30pm
(please be seated by 3:50pm)
reserve a spot
[email protected] • Greeks